AgdaPkt 2003-07-21 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

�. 0,2 A number of general terms are also changed in the new contract: • A provision was added clarifying the records PHS must maintain and make accessible records to the County, cities and public. • Should a city pass an animal control ordinance that is not substantially the same as the County ordinance and changes levels of service or increases costs, the city must contract separately with PHS for services beyond the master contract. • Permits issued by cities and the County for events and exhibits involving animals will be routed to PHS for approval. PHS may recover cost for monitoring events based on a fee schedule approved by cities /County. • Inclusion of standard County equal benefits language, changes to non- discrimination language, updated performance measures and inclusion of a mutual hold harmless provision. Contract Terms The contract is for three years, through June 30, 2006. There is no termination aside from breach of contract for PHS, the County, or any city. In the previous contract either party could terminate with 90 days notice. This exposed the County and Cities to substantial impact if the contractor were to terminate. We could not set up an effective animal control field services program in 90 days. However, this locks us into a three year contract with mandatory 5% increases. The Contract also contains an incentive for PHS to most efficiently use funds and not spend 100% of the contract amount. PHS and the cities /County will share 50 -50 any contract savings. As per the contract, each city is also required to enact increases to dog licenses and animal control fees (user fees charged at the shelter such as impound fees, boarding fees, surrender fees, etc.). The fee increases will make San Mateo County fees commensurate to those of other Bay Area counties. Such fees collected from Redwood City residents will offset the City's final contract cost. Staff will provide Council a separate staff report for adopting the dog licensing and animal control fee schedule as it must be presented during a public hearing. The total cost of the countywide contract for 2003 -2004 is $4,454,397, and the estimated cost for the City of Redwood City is $471,682. Furthermore, PHS is mandating a 5% cost increase each year of the contract. During these very difficult financial times, no other service providers (cities, counties, non - profits etc) are getting a budget increase. Unfortunately, we are dealing with a monopoly and we have almost no options. By way of comparison, the City provides $263,000 to the Human Services Financial Assistance (HSFA) Program, which funds 30 agencies. It should also be notes that HSFA reduced their budgets by 7% along with the other City departments. Using recent budget reductions made by the City as further comparison, the cost to restore the street sweeping program is $80,836; the cost to reestablish the DARE program is $119,669; the cost to restore the